Helen Wyatt Rust Stoykov was an able woman. When her father died at the young age of 37, she saw her mother work tirelessly as a seamstress for the well-to-do in the bustling city of Baltimore. Helen was not far behind. After high school, she went to work first at a bakery, then a candy shop, and then as a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II. She arrived with her own set of tools to make engine parts for the B-26 Marauder Bomber. She would later joke, “I must have done okay, we won the war.”

Helen applied this same determination to manage her affairs after her husband, Frank, passed away. She converted highly appreciated stock into a charitable gift annuity that provided her income during her lifetime and produced a significant charitable gift upon her death.

Family gatherings around the radio to hear Saturday Afternoon Metropolitan Opera left Helen with a lifelong love of opera. She also cherished poetry, piano music and animals. The Helen and Frank Stoykov Charitable Endowment Fund will continue to support art and animal welfare programs in our community..